GREAT!! A hands on practical system for hiring A-players throughout your company. It takes continual effort - not just when you need to fill a vacancy - and it's a lot of work. But so is hiring the wrong person and then having to replace them (or worse, put up with them). ( )

A very understandable look at the primary factors you should be using in any hiring situation. Instead of leaving hiring as a 'black art' this book does a great job of allowing you to quantify the specifications for the job role to ensure a good match every time. Although I am not in a position to hire at the minute - I expect to turn back to this book in about a year. ( )

Who is one of those books that isn't a great book and is nonetheless indispensable for people who are involved in hiring. The authors are consultants who have worked with people in far ranging fields, from finance to nonprofits to schools. They've developed a pretty convincing method of screening candidates. I won't go into the details here, but what I liked best was that they provide a systematic approach to hiring.

The authors suggest developing a "scorecard" where you develop a clear picture of the type of person you need for the job. One develops one's resources for applicants and then embark upon a thorough regimen of interviewing candidates. This part of the book spoke to me -- the authors argue for clear and consistent processes for conducting these interviews. I've been in far too many interviews that they characterize as "voodoo" interviews, where the interviewer goes for a general feel of the candidate. The result is sloppy interviewing, full of useless idle chatter and repetitive questions. The result is that one winds up hiring based on feelings rather than a true assessment of a candidate's qualifications and relative fit.

Working in education, I don't know that everything in this book is applicable, but the ideas are some direct and commonsensical that it will be easy to make the appropriate modifications. Nothing in this book will shock readers, but its presentation is thorough and provides a great starting point for people who need to conduct job interviews. ( )

Wikipedia in English (2)

In this instant New York Times Bestseller, Geoff Smart and Randy Street provide a simple, practical, and effective solution to what The Economist calls “the single biggest problem in business today”: unsuccessful hiring. The average hiring mistake costs a company $1.5 million or more a year and countless wasted hours. This statistic becomes even more startling when you consider that the typical hiring success rate of managers is only 50 percent.

The silver lining is that “who” problems are easily preventable. Based on more than 1,300 hours of interviews with more than 20 billionaires and 300 CEOs, Who presents Smart and Street’s A Method for Hiring. Refined through the largest research study of its kind ever undertaken, the A Method stresses fundamental elements that anyone can implement–and it has a 90 percent success rate.

Whether you’re a member of a board of directors looking for a new CEO, the owner of a small business searching for the right people to make your company grow, or a parent in need of a new babysitter, it’s all about Who. Inside you’ll learn how to

• avoid common “voodoo hiring” methods• define the outcomes you seek• generate a flow of A Players to your team–by implementing the #1 tactic used by successful businesspeople• ask the right interview questions to dramatically improve your ability to quickly distinguish an A Player from a B or C candidate• attract the person you want to hire, by emphasizing the points the candidate cares about most

In business, you are who you hire. In Who, Geoff Smart and Randy Street offer simple, easy-to-follow steps that will put the right people in place for optimal success.

(retrieved from Amazon Mon, 30 Sep 2013 13:31:02 -0400)

▾Library descriptions

A manager's guide to hiring the right employees introduces the practical and effective A Method for Hiring, which draws on the expertise of hundreds of high-level executives to present a simple, easy-to-follow program to guarantee hiring success.